In known Vögele AG road pavers, such as the Super 700 paver, a mechanical pointer as a navigation aid is attached to the chassis. The mechanical pointer comprises a holder which carries a pendulum chain or a flat steel on the side of the tracked paver above the subgrade. During the paving operation, the driver can steer the road paver in such a way that the pendulum chain or the flat steel is guided along the paving section along, or at least very close to, a reference cord stretched to define a desired paving direction, along the kerb or a milling edge.
However, it has been shown that the mechanical direction indicator offers a limited range of application or has a limited working radius due to its mechanical properties. Furthermore, the usual working area on the road paver is provided with interference geometries, e.g. hopper walls, pressure beams, the driving area of the truck. The main disadvantage of the mechanical pointer is that it can be misadjusted by external influences, e.g. raised manhole covers, moving trucks, personnel hitting against it.
The laterally projecting mechanical pointer can also be used by a driver of an advancing truck for a material transfer operation to move the truck backwards and centrally to the road paver's material hopper. However, the use of the mechanical pointer becomes problematic at the latest when working with the road paver at night, because the driver can no longer clearly see the pendulum chain or the flat steel from the operator stand in the dark.
In addition, the driver can easily be mistaken from the operator stand as to how close the pendulum chain or the flat steel is actually guided along the guideline. Often only larger distances or deviations between the pendulum chain or the flat steel and the guideline can be noticed from the operator stand. However, this leads to the fact that an unwanted course of paving is counteracted only very late, which can lead to paving errors and may require costly rework.
US 2003/0226290 A1 discloses in FIG. 8 a road paver with a laser scanner directing a laser beam behind the screed in the paving direction onto the surface of a newly paved layer to illuminate an image area that can be captured by a camera of the road paver. Based on this, the road paver's screed can be leveled. However, this is not suitable for navigation.